


Another Clumsy Chord

by praisethemofftiss



Category: Cabin Pressure, Cabin!Lock, Cabinlock - Fandom, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Adorable, Adorkable, Cabinlock, F/M, Fluff, cabin!lock - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-26
Updated: 2012-06-26
Packaged: 2017-11-08 14:16:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/444065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praisethemofftiss/pseuds/praisethemofftiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another person dies on MJN Air and Molly comes to collect the body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Clumsy Chord

“Rotten luck, eh Skipper?”

“Yes, rotten luck indeed. At least you didn’t kill this one like you did that Lehman fellow,” Douglas said as the three men looked down at the deceased. 

“I didn’t kill Mr. Lehman! That was an unfortunate accident.” Martin’s face reddened as the curtain to the galley opened and Carolyn came bustling in. 

“Right. Well, I’ve called the medical examiner and they assured me that they’ll be sending someone along ‘as soon as they possibly can’. In the meantime, someone needs to stay behind with,” She picked up the PIL and looked up the woman‘s information. “Mrs. Tolbert. Martin, you’ll stay behind and I will see everyone tomorrow evening for the next flight out.” 

Carolyn turned to leave and Martin straightened up, horror-stricken. “What? Me? Why me?”

“Well you’re the captain, Martin.” She replied levelly.

“You own this bloody aircraft! You should stay with Mrs. Tolbert.” 

“Oh come now, Martin.” Douglas smirked before continuing. “You’re the captain. You’re in control.” And without saying anymore, he ducked from the room.

Martin’s face flushed and Carolyn focused her attention on him. “You deal with this. I wanted it taken care of by morning. I do not need this holding us up for our imminent flight. Come on, Arthur.” She called before leaving the galley. Arthur gave him a bright smile and waved before trailing off after his mother.

Martin sat opposite the deceased and removed his captain’s hat. He tried to avoid looking at anything but at poor Mrs. Tolbert. The only thing that could explain her sudden death was her old age. She was well into her 90’s, according to the PIL. Arthur thought that she was ‘just sleeping very, very well’. In some ways she was. 

An hour and a half passed and with every tick of the clock, he grew more and more frustrated. He didn’t understand what was possibly taking so long. Surely it shouldn’t take this long for someone to retrieve the body. A sigh escaped his lips as he stood, stretching his legs. Still avoiding Mrs. Tolbert, he left the galley and walked the length of the plane countless times. Every now and again, he would peek out one of the many windows waiting for any sign of the medical examiner, but, alas, the place looked deserted. 

Retreating to one of the aisle seats, he laid his head in his hands, desperate to escape the aluminum confines of the aeroplane. It was an odd feeling. Normally he would be more than happy to spend his time there, but he suspected that the dead body put a damper on his mood today. 

But after another 45 minutes, he heard a faint hello from behind. “Well it’s about bloody time!” He sat up and put his hat back on his head, before standing on his feet and puffing out his chest. 

“Two hours and twenty-five minutes for you to get here. That‘s a bit unprofess-” He said as he turned on his heels and came face to face with a startled-looking woman. His words fell short and he softened a bit, looking at the mousy-haired woman in a lab coat with a clipboard in her hands.

She quickly recovered and took several steps closer to him. “Sorry, it’s been a bit of an unorthodox day. Molly Hooper,” she offered him her hand and gave him a small smile. “I’m going to assume you’re not Mrs. Carolyn Knapp-Shappey.”

“No, of course I’m not. Martin Crieff. Captain Martin Crieff.” He replied as he straightened his back. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Captain. These are my interns who will be assisting me today.” She pointed a finger to a group of two men and one woman standing in the background. She flipped through the paperwork attached to the clipboard but in the process ended up dropping it. It landed on a floor with a small thud; some of the papers broke away from the metal clip and scattered around the floor. 

“Oh no,” She said as she dipped down to recover the paperwork. 

At the same time, Martin crouched down to help, causing their skulls to collide. Both glanced up simultaneously, looking horrorstruck. Molly’s brown eyes were wide and her hand went up to the spot where it had crashed with Martin’s head. 

“I’m so very sorry. Are you alright?” He asked, straightening his cap and gathering up the papers. 

“No, it’s my fault. I’m such a klutz, but I’m fine. And you? Are you alright?” She took the papers and started to straighten them out. The small group behind her shook their heads and one rolled their eyes. 

“Yes, no permanent damage, I assure you.” He offered her a smile and she returned it. Martin couldn’t help but notice a fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach. 

“Right, we best get to work. I’ll have some papers you’ll have to sign later, but right now I just need access to the body.” Her eyes darted around the compartment.

“This way then. We moved her to the galley.” 

They all followed suit into the galley. With six people in the small space, it became very uncomfortable. He stepped back to let Molly and her crew go about their work. He would answer her questions as best as he could, but he didn’t know much. He could only answer the most basic questions and many of those had to do with the length of the flight, her name, age and other personal details. All of which Molly filled out on the many of forms. Every now and again, she would ask the interns some questions and access their answers. They all took turns examining the body and Molly would point out little things here and there. It was nothing that he really understood. 

“Right, I think we have everything we need.” Her face knotted as she finished off a form and highlighted specific areas. “I just need you to fill out these couple of sections. It’s just some formalities. I need your signature so the body can officially be released into our custody and we can contact the family and all that…stuff.” 

“Oh, right. Of course.” He nodded and took the papers from her and quickly filled them out. 

“Right, everything looks in order,” She said, glancing at the finished paperwork. “You lot can bag her up and take her to the van.” 

To Martin, she sounded a bit too cheerful. Not like Arthur, but he was sure she was used to such things. She worked in a morgue; she had to be used to death. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did she…you know, die?” He leaned against one of the nearby walls and watched her struggle to take off the blue medical gloves, an amused look about his face.

“Oh, her heart stopped. Well, as far as I can tell her heart stopped. I won’t know more until I open her up.” She pocketed the gloves into her lab coat and smiled up at him. 

“Oh, that’s unfortunate…” He crossed his arms and looked down at her, noticing the significant height difference and that the plane was suddenly very quiet. The others had already left to retrieve the necessary items to remove the remains. It left the two of them alone, and made Martin a bit fretful. He was awful at small talk. Well, he was awful at making conversation in general. He was always a bit odd and clumsy around people. No one ever took him seriously, which made it severely worse. It would only mean he would try harder to impress, and fail miserably time and time again.

“Is it though? I mean she was quite old and your attendant didn’t notice any cause for alarm so she must have went pretty peacefully.” She held the clipboard tightly to her chest as she looked tenderly at Mrs. Tolbert. “I could think of worse ways to go…” She whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. A sigh escaped her lips just as her crew came bustling into the room. 

It didn’t take long for them to pack the woman away and soon they had taken her out of the van and packed her away. 

It was only he and Molly left on the plane, standing awkwardly in the aisle.


End file.
